Gauteng Growth Employment and Development Strategy (GGEDS)

The GCRO’s work on the responses of cities and city-regions to the global financial crisis indicated that creating ‘green jobs’, and investing in a low carbon future, would be key to counter-cyclical spending world-wide. As a result the Gauteng MEC for Economic Development, Firoz Cachalia, asked GCRO to draft a ‘green economy’ strategy to feed into the evolving Gauteng Growth Employment and Development Strategy (GGEDS). GCRO co-ordinated the project, which involved Prof Mark Swilling and his team from the Sustainability Institute in Stellenbosch, colleagues from the Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies, and Frank Spencer of G-Tech Energy.

A detailed strategy - ‘A developmental green economy for Gauteng’ - was presented to the MEC for Economic Development in January 2010. In April 2010, based on this work, GCRO was asked to assist the Department of Economic Development and the Advisor to the MEC to finalise the Gauteng Employment Growth and Development Strategy (GEGDS). This involved giving strategic advice on possible content and edits on drafts of the document.